Colleges: Carla Berube has Tufts women in their first Final Four

The 2013-14 season started out with a new experience for Tufts women's basketball coach Carla Berube. She became a mom in October, giving birth to a son, Parker, just a month before the Jumbos played their opener.

Once the season got going, though, it was pretty much what Berube has come to expect during her 12 years at Tufts.

The Jumbos ran off 21 straight wins before suffering their only loss of the year to Babson in mid-February, and after a terrific run through the first four rounds of the NCAA Division 3 Tournament, Tufts will make the program's first Final Four appearance later this week.

"It's been a whirlwind of a season," Berube said in an interview from her Medford office Tuesday afternoon. "Having a baby right before it and jumping right into it, it's been nonstop, but I definitely have enjoyed it."

Tufts takes a 30-1 record into Friday's national semifinal game against FDU-Florham at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Winning was the only way for Berube during her playing days at Oxford High and the University of Connecticut, and it's been that way during her coaching career as well.

Tufts reached the Elite Eight in 2008 and the Sweet 16 in 2012. Her record at Tufts is 242-76 (.761).

The leadership of captains Caitlin McClure, Liz Moynihan and Ali Rocchi, the overall experience of the roster (five juniors, three seniors) and the talent level are what's set this year's team apart. The Jumbos rank second in the country in scoring defense, allowing only 48.9 points per game.

"They're a resilient group with a great work ethic," said Berube, who made two Final Four appearances (1995, 1996) at UConn. "They're fun to be around. It's fun to coach them and to work with them. I'm excited for them to have this opportunity."

Tufts certainly showed that resiliency Berube mentioned in two of its NCAA Tournament wins. In a second-round game against the University of New England, Moynihan sank the winning 3-pointer at the overtime buzzer, and in last weekend's NCAA quarterfinals, the Jumbos made a huge defensive stand in the closing seconds to hold off Ithaca, 61-59.

Berube won a lot of games as a player, but she's the first one to tell you there weren't that many close ones. Her 1995 UConn team, which went 35-0 and won the first of the program's eight national titles, beat its opponents by an average margin of 33.4 points.

"These close ones have taken a toll on my life," Berube said with a laugh. "But I think the way I played I always kept pretty calm no matter what the situation was and I try to do that as a coach. In big situations, I try to keep my cool. That helps the players stay calm and gives them hopefully the confidence to make the plays that need to be made."

Berube, who was a 2,000-point scorer at Oxford and led the Pirates to back-to-back state championships, also guided Tufts to its first NESCAC title this year. She was named the conference's Coach of the Year for the fourth time. She was also named the D3hoops.com Northeast Region Coach of the Year.

The Jumbos will depart for Wisconsin today.

"It's very exciting and we're looking forward to it," Berube said. "We put a lot of hard work into it, and hopefully we'll go play a couple great games."

Little Parker has been a big fan this year. He's been at all but three games.

"He's a good luck charm," said Berube, who is loving motherhood. "I'm enjoying the season so much," she said, "but I'm excited about being home for bath time when it's over. It's amazing. Motherhood is just a thrill."

Kuakumensah a real Bear

The Brown men's basketball team, which lost to Holy Cross in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) Monday night, seems to have a bright future ahead and one of the young players who will continue to lead the Bears is sophomore Cedric Kuakumensah of Worcester.

The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Kuakumensah, one of three team captains, wrapped up another fine season by earning his second straight Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honor and setting the Ivy League record for blocks in a season with 93.

"Cedric is wise beyond his years," second-year Brown coach Mike Martin said. "He works extremely hard every day. He's a guy you can count on for effort, leadership and all those things that are so important when you're trying to build a program and change a culture."

The Bears finished 15-14, posting their first winning season since 2008-09.

"It was definitely a good season," Kuakumensah said. "Coach Martin always talks about how we have to use every season as a building block until we get to the stage where we win a championship. It was exactly that. It was a good starting point for us. We learned a lot this year, and our senior (Sean McGonagill) got us moving in the right direction."

Kuakumensah starred at North High for three years before transferring to St. Andrew's School in Barrington, R.I. He led the Polar Bears to back-to-back Central Mass. Division 1 title game appearances and was a Hometeam Super Team selection as a junior.

As a freshman at Brown, he made his mark as the premier defensive player in the Ivy League, setting a school record with 66 blocked shots and ranking second in the Ivy League with 7.5 rebounds a game.

Kuakumensah's dominance on and around the glass was evident in the Holy Cross game when he pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. He ranked fourth in the Ivy League with 7 rebounds a game.

Kuakumensah said he developed his defensive mindset at a young age, working with close family friend and Worcester Academy coach Jamie Sullivan.

"He always told me to protect the hoop, and it stuck with me," Kuakumensah said.

Kuakumensah's offense isn't at the same level as his defense, but he averaged 8.9 points and posted double-doubles in five of Brown's last six games.

"Obviously he's got some really good physical gifts," Martin said, "but the fact that he's so reliable — I think that's such an underrated attribute of a player. Can you count on him every day and can you rely on him every day? Certainly we can with Cedric."

Hockey regional at DCU

The NCAA Division 1 men's ice hockey Northeast Regional will be held at the DCU Center for the 13th time March 29-30.

We'll find out what four teams are coming to Worcester during the NCAA selection show, which will be televised at noon Sunday on ESPNU.

Semifinal games will be played at 4 and 7:30 p.m. March 29, and the regional final is at 5 p.m. March 30.

Holy Cross is hosting the event for the fourth time. The Northeast Regional will return to the DCU Center in 2016.

Contact Jennifer Toland at jtoland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTandG.